EOF Trustee Scholars

The Trustee Scholars program is an initiative of the Employee Ownership Foundation dedicated to promoting and expanding employee ownership through research, grants, events, and public awareness. This scholarship is for dependents of employee owners and employee owners under the age of 22 working at ESOPs that are corporate members of The ESOP Association. The Trustee Scholars program was founded to assist with post-secondary education expenses for students planning to attend college or vocational programs.

The program is administered by Scholarship America®, the nation’s largest designer and manager of scholarships and other education support programs for corporations, foundations, associations, and individuals. Eligibility for individual programs is determined at the sole discretion of the sponsor and eligible applications are reviewed by Scholarship America’s evaluation team.

2024 EOF Trustee Scholars Recipients >>

Eligibility

Applicants to the Employee Ownership Foundation Trustee Scholars Program must:

• Be age 22 and under, on the application deadline, February 14, 2024.
• An employee or dependent of an employee of a corporate member company of The ESOP Association (TEA). 
  • Employee is defined as any part-time of full-time employee at a corporate member company, regardless of their vesting status in the company’s ESOP plan.
  • Dependents are defined as natural and legally adopted children or stepchildren living in the employee’s household or primarily supported by the employee. 
• Companies must be a corporate member in good standing of The ESOP Association prior to the application deadline date.
  • Good standing is defined as being an active, dues paying corporate member.
• Be a high school senior or high school graduate, current undergraduate student, or enrolled in a vocational/technical school. 
• Plan to enroll in full-time undergraduate study at an accredited two- or four-year college, university, or vocational-technical school for the entire upcoming academic year.
  • Full-time is a student who is enrolled for the number of hours or courses that the school or institution considers to be fill-time attendance.
  • An undergraduate student is defined as seeking one of two higher education degrees—an associate degree or a bachelor’s degree.
  • Two-year colleges are also known as community colleges and can also be part of a transfer program to a four-year institution.
  • Four-year college is defined as a college, university, or specialized institution.
  • A vocational -technical school is a term for either trade or technical schools.
  • The institution must be accredited by a “nationally recognized accrediting agency”. The U.S. Department of Education recognized accrediting agencies.
  • Certification programs must be through an accredited institution and must run on a standard academic semester calendar. Certification programs must be a minimum of one semester/term in length and applicants must be enrolled at the time awards are disbursed in August.

Requirements

As part of your application, you must upload the following:

• Transcript: A current, complete transcript of grades. 
  • Transcripts must display the student’s name, school name, grades and credit hours for each course and term in which each course was taken. 
    • Grade reports (also known as report cards) are not accepted. 
  • If you are uploading a high school transcript and providing SAT or ACT test scores, if those scores are not listed on your high school transcript, you will need to upload a copy of your test score report(s) separately. 
  • If you are uploading a college transcript, SAT and ACT test scores are not required.
• IRS Form 1040: Copy of the first two pages of the most recently filed IRS Form 1040 used for the Financial Information section of the application. 
  • Please black out all social security numbers and bank account information. 
• Video Essay: Submit a two-minute video answering the following question: “What does employee ownership mean to you, your loved ones, and/or your community?” 
  • The video should be recorded by the beneficiary of the scholarship, from their perspective as an employee at an ESOP company or as a dependent of an employee at an ESOP company
  • Only the finalist committee will review videos – they will not be shared publicly without explicit permission from the video creator.
  • Have fun!

Awards

• Up to two (2) scholarships will be awarded to separate individuals.
• If selected as a recipient, the student will receive a $5,000 per year award. 
• Awards are renewable up to three years (4 years total) or until a bachelor’s degree is earned, whichever occurs first, on the basis of satisfactory academic performance, maintaining a cumulative grade point average of 2.5 on a 4.0 scale, and full-time enrollment.
• Awards are for undergraduate study at accredited institutions only, including
  • Two-year/community colleges, including those that transfer into a four-year college
  • Four-year colleges,  a university, college, or specialized institution
  • A vocational -technical school 
• Awards are NOT for
  • Graduate students seeking advanced education such as Masters or PhD programs
  • Unaccredited training schools or colleges

Application Period

• Applications can be submitted via the online portal on the Scholarship America website December 2, 2024 – February 14, 2025
• The application deadline is 11:59 PM Eastern Standard Time, Friday, February 14, 2025

Notification

• All applicants will be notified in April, prior to College Decision Day (May 1)

Payment of Scholarships

• Scholarship America processes scholarship payments on behalf of the Employee Ownership Foundation. 

Selection of Recipients

• Scholarship recipients are selected on the basis of: 
• Academic record 
• Demonstrated leadership and participation in school and community activities 
• Work experience 
• A statement of educational and career goals and objectives 
• Unusual personal or family circumstances 
• Financial need considered, but not determinative

Selection of finalists is made by Scholarship America. The Employee Ownership Foundation finalist committee will select scholarship recipients. Not all applicants to the program will be selected as recipients. Students may reapply to the program each year they meet eligibility requirements. All applicants agree to accept the decision as final.

Who is eligible for the scholarship?

• Must be a dependent of an employee OR an employee who works for a Corporate Member in good standing of The ESOP Association
• Who is 22 years of age or under
• Who is a high school senior or graduate, a current college undergraduate, or is enrolled in a vocational/technical school
• Who plans to enroll in a full-time undergraduate study at an accredited two- or four-year college, university, or vocational-technical school for the entire upcoming academic year (the scholarship is not eligible for graduate or doctoral education)

Please see section on Eligibility above.

Can we extend the deadline?

• No. The deadline is 11:59 PM Eastern Standard Time, Friday, February 14, 2025. The application portal will close at midnight, Saturday February 15, 2025.  Incomplete and unsubmitted applications will not be accepted after the deadline. 

Who do I contact for questions about the application form?

• Contact Scholarship America at EOFscholars@scholarshipamerica.org

Who do I contact for general questions about the scholarship?

• Contact info@employeeownershipfoundation.org. Please note that if the question is in regards to the scholarship application form or technical issues submitting an application, you will be referred to Scholarship America at  EOFscholars@scholarshipamerica.org

Do I need to be an ESOP plan participant?

• No. You may be any employee or dependent of any employee that works for a corporate member of The ESOP Association. Your company must be an active member in good standing with the association.

Do I need to be vested in my ESOP to be eligible or for my children to be eligible?

• No. Those vested and not yet vested (or fully vested) are eligible, and their dependents are eligible, so long as they meet the other criteria.

Can I be a current college student and apply?

• Yes! Current college undergraduate or students currently enrolled in a vocational/technical school.  Please note that the scholarship is renewable three times (up to 4 years) but only until a Bachelors Degree is earned (whichever comes first).  Scholarships may not be used for graduate or post-graduate education.

I don’t see or can’t access the application.

• Your profile may have information that makes you ineligible to apply for the scholarship
• If you have any questions, or believe this is an error, please contact Scholarship America at EOFscholars@scholarshipamerica.org

Which 1040 should I upload?

• Dependents should upload their parents’ most recent 1040
  
  • If you have any questions about this portion of the application, please contact Scholarship America at EOFscholars@scholarshipamerica.org
• Employees 22 and under should upload their most recent 1040

Who will see my financial information?

• No one from The ESOP Association or the Employee Ownership Foundation will have access to or ever see your financial information. Because financial need is one of the factors (though not a determining factor) considered in your application, your financial information will be reviewed by Scholarship America, who properly secures this information as part of its responsibilities

Who should submit the 2-min video?

• The video should be recorded by the beneficiary of the scholarship, from their perspective as an employee at an ESOP company or as a dependent of an employee at an ESOP company.

How is the Trustee Scholarship funded?

• Though generous donations by employee owners and ESOP companies to the Employee Ownership Foundation throughout the year and during ESOPathon!

Can the scholarship be used at colleges or educational institutions abroad?

• At this time, the scholarship can only be used for U.S. based educational institutions.

How do I know that my application was received?

• Once submitted on the Scholarship America portal, verify that you have received a confirmation email letting you know that your application was successfully submitted.
• Incomplete or non-submitted applications in the Scholarship America portal will not be considered for the scholarship as they meet the other criteria.